


You're A Very Good Person Who Bad Things Have Happened To

by silence_since_silence



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Child Abuse, Depression, Fear, Gen, Gods, Healing, Insomnia, Jealousy, Kid Fic, Magic, Nature, Not Canon Compliant, Physical Abuse, Pre-Canon, Psychological Warfare, Roman Britain, Teen Years, Transformation, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-15 20:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12328065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silence_since_silence/pseuds/silence_since_silence
Summary: A baby was born, and the gods took notice.





	1. Bad Things Happen

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for [Camelot_Drabble](https://camelot-drabble.livejournal.com/).
> 
>  
> 
> **ALL WARNINGS ARE IN THE TAGS. HEED THE TAGS.**
> 
>  
> 
> The first chapter takes place during the Roman occupation of Britain, and the gods follow the traditions of Greek and Roman mythology/theater. Artistic liberties have been taken!
> 
> Thank you Sirius Black for the title. ;)
> 
> If you recognize anything in this story because it is happening or has happened in your own life, please talk to someone trusted and supportive about it. "My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break." and "Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o'er wrought heart and bids it break." -both Shakespeare. Be safe. Be well.

In a town with one road and a hut with one room, a baby with one parent was born.

The gods took notice.

As the baby boy grew, he showed himself to be intelligent and a hard worker. His mother named him Merlin in the hope that he would live smart and strong even though he was small.

The gods saw what he could become, and they were jealous of his gift. With a dark agenda, they set monsters on the boy.

First, there were the strange sounds and rustlings in the woods.

Those frightened little Merlin for a time, but he learned to accept that the trees held wonders. He was kind and patient, and he befriended the animals that belonged to the noises.

Second, the gods turned other children against Merlin.

Young Merlin learned from the other children's whispers about him and exclusion of him that something wasn't normal about him. One other boy was stronger than the gods' persuasion, though, and Merlin had a friend.

The third monster the gods sent was fear.

Merlin discovered abilities in himself that he could not find in anyone else he knew. His mother taught him to hide these parts of himself away so he would not be discovered. Discovery meant death. Merlin was impressionable: soon, he learned to wait before speaking; soon he learned to wait before moving; soon he learned to be seen but not heard; soon he learned to be less than a shadow. Discovery means death, but fear strangles life.

The gods were pleased that their latest monster worked so well, but they were still unsatisfied. They sent a fourth monster.

Merlin was the right age to be sent to learn a skill as an apprentice, but the master he served was harsh and uncaring. Everything Merlin did was wrong. Everything he did wrong earned him a physical punishment. His master did not care when bruises became breaks.

For the fifth monster, the gods sent sleeplessness.

Merlin could not stop the idea that his master might hurt him while he was sleeping, despite the fact that no such thing had ever happened. He stayed awake frozen between wishing he could just sleep and knowing that something might happen if he didn't keep watch over himself. He slept less and less, and so became clumsier with his daily tasks. He spent every night reliving the pains of his days. He felt like he was fading. He could no longer remember a different way to live.


	2. A Good Thing Happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gods are new and old. Artistic liberties have been taken with theological history.

One day, Merlin's master set Merlin a task in the woods. Merlin walked in the woods until he stopped abruptly. He looked up at the mesmerizing sway of the canopy. He breathed in so deep he felt the breath down in his toes. He felt his connection to the earth and life around him, and he felt the nutrients flow in his roots. He stretched his face and hands up toward the sun, and felt its warmth on his leaves and bark.

Merlin had faded all the way into the background: he had become a tree.

The gods were satisfied with their systematic ruin of this child with potential.

But it is always so: when hurtful forces stop, roots can grow stronger and flowers can bloom.

And that is just how it happened. Merlin felt the relative peace of life as a tree, the purpose of connection with all forest life, the safety of being so thoroughly hidden, and the absence of human-style thoughts. He slowly, very slowly, healed from his hurts. He grew. He grew strong from within. He felt. He was needed. He was so content that he flowered.

When he grew fruit, his magic knew it was time to turn him back into a human.

It was sudden. He was so disoriented from the senses he hadn't used in all the long time he had been a tree that he stumbled naked across the path of several men on horses.

The men were kind to Merlin. They offered food. They offered aid.

It soon became clear Merlin was out of his own time. The way these men spoke and the lives they spoke of... Merlin had never heard of anything like it, and it seemed to be so normal to them.

Merlin offered his skills and services to any of them who would take him on, and the leader among them agreed.

Merlin joined him in Camelot.

The gods of this new time rejoiced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The knights also offer Merlin clothes. (:


End file.
